Silent Films: pre-team 1921-1927 Laurel and Hardy Silents 1927 Laurel and Hardy Silents 1928 Laurel and Hardy Silents 1929 Laurel and Hardy sound films (alphabetical order): A-Haunting We Will Go Air Raid Wardens Another Fine Mess Any Old Port! Atoll K (aka Utopia) Babes In Toyland Beau Hunks Be Big! Below Zero Berth Marks The Big Noise Block-Heads Blotto The Bohemian Girl Bonnie Scotland Brats The Bullfighters Busy Bodies Chickens Come Home - The Chimp A Chump At Oxford Come Clean County Hospital The Dancing Masters The Devil's Brother aka Fra Diavolo Dirty Work The Fixer Uppers The Flying Deuces Fra Diavolo aka The Devil's Brother Going Bye-Bye! Great Guns Helpmates Hog Wild The Hoose-Gow Jitterbugs Laughing Gravy The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case The Live Ghost Me And My Pal Men O'War The Midnight Patrol The Music Box Night Owls Nothing But Trouble Oliver The Eighth One Good Turn Our Relations Our Wife Pack Up Your Troubles Pardon Us Perfect Day Saps At Sea Scram! Sons of the Desert Swiss Miss Their First Mistake Them Thar Hills They Go Boom! Thicker Than Water Tit For Tat Towed In A Hole Twice Two Unaccustomed As We Are Utopia (aka Atoll K) Way Out West Specials: Cameos Cartoons For Love Or Mummy Laurel and Hardy Memories "Stan"

Blotto Year: 1930 Directed by: James Parrott Duration: 25m DVD Availability: Try sendit.com (region 2 only) Viewpoint: "She doesn’t suspect a thing!" Laurel and Hardy’s first attempt at a three-reeler, a format they would return to nine times with The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case, Another Fine Mess, Be Big!, Chickens Come Home, Laughing Gravy, Any Old Port, The Music Box, The Chimp and Oliver The Eighth. A very funny short, one thing that could perhaps be levelled at Stan and Ollie in the modern era is a sense of misogyny. Stan detested the analysis of humour (“Never, for God’s sake, ask me what makes people laugh. I just don’t know.” – The Comedy World of Stan Laurel, John McCabe) though it must be noted how much of art imitates life in their depiction of marital life. Ollie certainly had reason to fear women – his first marriage from 1913-1921 suffered due to his adultery, while his second from 1921-1940 didn’t fare much better due to his gambling and his wife’s drinking. Stan, the creative force behind them, had it even worse, with a common-law wife that physically attacked him, as well as three sets of alimony to pay. Thankfully both died in loving relationships, with their final chosen wives (Ollie’s third in 1940, Stan’s fourth in 1946) finally their ideal women. While it would be stretching it to suggest they were working out their anxieties on screen, some inspiration does seem to have crept in, particularly with Stan’s uncredited influence on the situations, direction and gags in all of their Roach work. Note also that it’s only the women they’ve married that are ogressied (not a word, but I’ve just made it up) – single women are seen as objects of desire. I’m not seriously suggesting that Stan and Ollie were misogynistic, by the way, merely offering it up as food for thought. In fact, here in Blotto, rather than depict wives as monsters – and there’s none as terrifying as the gun-toting Anita Garvin seen here – they make themselves look small, intoxicated by the belief that cold tea is hard liquor. The Spanish version of Blotto, La Vida Nocturna, was an extended take with variety acts (a woman dancing with a balloon, as well as an exotic dancer) and more drunkenness from Stan and Ollie. Their intoxicated song can be seen in the clips section of this site, while a joke removed from reissues of the American version due to negative damage – a fan is turned on as answer to Stan’s request for fresh air – can also be witnessed. The third image of the selection presented here is from La Vida Nocturna, which runs to 37m. Perhaps most intriguingly is that the alternate version hasn't had the incidental music replaced as the English language one has, giving us a real impression of what Blotto must have been like in its original, long-deleted form. Yet in either version, it’s a very slight premise – Stan sneaks out with Ollie away from his bullying wife, and they believe they’re getting drunk – followed by a bog standard denouement seen in many of their films with a shotgun ending. That such relatively simple fare can be rendered first rate is all down to the quite brilliant performances of the two leads. From Ollie’s first taste of the “liquor”, to Stan’s tears at a ballad, to their uncontrollable laughter when “drunk”, it’s all first rate stuff. Like the best of their shorts it never drags, seeming much shorter than the 25 minute duration, and from the moment Stan asks his wife’s permission to go out like a scolded schoolboy the laughs never stop coming. Exceptional.